


Ink

by Ekhi



Series: Gareth Fest 2014 [9]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, Gareth is adorable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-26 15:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2656898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ekhi/pseuds/Ekhi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He had lost the count of how many did he had through his whole life, everyone really important, every one of them had been in the most special moments of his life. But none of them would be as special for him as that one. The first one, the one that started that inked path.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ink

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Tinta](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2655827) by [Ekhi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ekhi/pseuds/Ekhi). 



> This short OS was written for the “Gareth Fest” contest organized by the spanish forum Open! Walkers Inside (in FF) for Andrew J West’s birthday.  
> Disclaimer: Obviously, neither the serie nor the comics are mine… I just do this for fun, entertainment and because I need to put my energy on something.
> 
> English is not my mother tongue, is not even my second language so… I’m sorry for any mistakes that might appear.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it anyway.

He could still remember it like it was yesterday, or a week ago, and no a bunch of years ago like it actually was.

If he closed his eyes, he could remember the feeling that caught him when he passed by the huge window from the store. He didn’t know exactly why, but he looked up from the shoes that his mother forced into his feet that morning and with whom he was ruffling between the puddles, dry leafs and a few gums. He laid his hands on the big window and touched the cold glass with his forehead, his breath fogged it lightly.

Mary stopped to look out for his son that wasn’t by her side, seeing him holding himself to the stationer’s shop glass like a limpet. With a smile on her face she approached him trying to find the best way to convince his son that the action figure of the moment, wasn’t coming home with them. She scowled realizing that in front of her there were not action figures, there were just different kind of notebooks, markers, crayons and a few pens.

Gareth sensed his mother’s presence and moved his face so he could take a peek of hers.

“You already have a notebook, sweetie.”

She had talked to him in a calm and indulgent voice. Her slender fingers took off the bangs from his eyes, but for just a few seconds, they fell again shadowing his olive eyes while he looked again towards the store.

“I don’t want a notebook.”

His voice was little, just what you might expect for a kid from his age and size. Under that dark blue coat, those black pants and the wool-hat she had made for him herself, Gareth felt a tickling in the inside that couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly. He was actually sweating under the coat.

“What do you want?” Asked Mary crouching beside him, with her hand on his waist, holding onto him, cutting the distance between them.

Gareth’s little finger pointed towards something on the side of the window. Mary arched and eyebrow surprised and smiled.

“Are you sure?” Gareth nodded without taking his eyes off of the object for more than a minute. He blinked calmly and looked towards his mom.

“Could we…?” The smile that his mother gave him answered his unfinished question.

Mary straightened up again and extended her hand towards her son, who took it to step in the store with his mother. The jingle from the tiny bell above the door announced their presence to the owner, her heel’s clicking as she went towards the counter.

A women with grey hair but really well kept, showed up with a huge smile.

“What can I do for you?”

When her bright gaze crossed with Gareth’s, she winked at him, seeing the kid hidden behind her mother’s right leg. Mary’s hand touched his dark hair kindly, assuring him that everything was alright.

“We wanted to buy… Sweetie, would you tell her which one do you want?” Asked her mother to the kid, who nodded and extended her tiny finger in silence, pointing the object he wanted.

“The green one?” Asked the woman signaling one of them.

“No, the black one… with a few other colors.” He told her with reddened cheeks from the heat of the store, the nervousness, and the embarrassment of talking with a complete stranger in front of his mother.

“Oh!” Exclaimed the woman with a smile, picking up the pen he had choose. “A great choice indeed, little man.” She told him giving him the pen. Gareth thanked her with a bright smile and a short _thank you_ that make the woman’s smile get even bigger. “It’s been a while since I saw a kid enjoying that much buying a pen.”

“It has a lot of colors…” He said in a soft voice tapping the bottom of it so the red mine showed up, and just right after it the green one appeared from the pen’s top. It was amazing.

When the mother and son arrived home, Gareth’s hand was visible tainted with different colorful lines, and the continuous “click” of the mine was his life’s background music.

That pen was the very first one that he had chosen by himself. Since that day, dozens of them had filled notebooks, books, paper napkins… He has had them from any kind, labels, sizes, inks, colors that any human being could know. For a while he almost betrayed them with a fountain pen or a pencil but he always went back to them. He always ended with one of them on his hand, biting on the cover if they have it, tapping his chin with them while thinking and painting his middle and index finger with their ink.

He had lost the count of how many did he had through his whole life, everyone really important, every one of them had been in the most special moments of his life. But none of them would be as special for him as that one. The first one, the one that started that inked path.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote down this one for a friend of mine, a huge fan of Gareth since season 4. I gave her my word that I would try to write something about Gareth and that love of his for pen’s. 
> 
> Thanks for reading and my apologies for any grammar mistakes, misspelling…


End file.
